That hadn’t been the case recently, though, at least not to most folks’ memory. Not until Peter Laviolette left the 33-year-old Kreider out of the lineup that faced the Devils on Monday, in the Rangers’ final game before the NHL’s holiday break.

The New York Rangers fueled speculation as they scratched Chris Kreider from the lineup against their Hudson River rivals, the New Jersey Devils. Kreider was asked about it Friday by Newsday's Colin Stephenson.

The decision to sit the longest tenured Ranger comes amid the club’s 4-12 skid and free fall in the standings to sixth in the Metropolitan Division and 22nd in the NHL.

The New York Rangers made Chris Kreider a healthy scratch Monday in a blowout loss to the Devils, and Adam Proteau says the team erred significantly by disrespecting Kreider.

The Rangers had their first practice since the holiday break as Kreider was asked about his benching and he certainly did not shy away from the topic. “I think there's a lot of details within my game,

Chris Kreider said he was ready to “take the lessons” from his healthy scratch last Monday’s game against the Devils and move on now that the Rangers and the rest of the NHL have returned from the holiday break.